Application icons

Designing an icon for your application gives you the opportunity to showcase your
application to BlackBerry
PlayBook tablet users. In the BlackBerry World storefront, an icon is the first introduction that users have to
your application. The icon also appears on the home screen as the way for users to open
your application.

It's important that your icon is visually interesting. At the same time, it's also
important that the icon maintains consistency with the design of existing BlackBerry application icons. You want the icon to fit in the application list
and not be either too bland or too conspicuous.

Best practices

Make sure that the icon has the following properties:

Size: 86 x 86 pixels. If the icon is smaller than 86 x 86 pixels, it could appear out of place next to other icons. Any icon larger than 90 x 90 pixels will not be displayed on the screen.

Resolution: 72 pixels per inch (PPI)

Mode: RGB color

Type: PNG

Keep the main graphical elements of the icon within a 77 x 77 pixel area, which allows for a buffer zone. If the main graphical elements occupy the entire 86 x 86 pixel area, the icon will look too large in the application list. You can accessorize outside of the 77 x 77 pixel area, but the main graphical elements should stay within this area.

Position the icon image 2 pixels from the bottom of the 86 x 86 pixel area. The position aligns the baseline with the other icons in the application list, and the base shadow, which is automatically created, will look correct.

Make sure the perspective of the icon is one point viewed head on (no rotation). The perspective is the angle that the icon is viewed from.

Use rounded rectangles with a corner radius of 20 pixels.

Apply lighting that is top-down and strikes the middle of the icon. This effect also makes the icon look correct over the base shadow.

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